Religious Themes in Leaving Certificate
Poetry
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Religious Themes in Leaving Certificate
Poetry
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| T.S. Eliot | |
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T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) was born in the USA but received his university education in France and England, where he settled. He was a poet, playright and literary critic and is regarded as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. Much of his early work, like The Waste Land, was pessimistic in tone, but after he became an Anglican in 1927 a Christian optimism was a feature of his writing. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948, and while much of his work was serious, he wrote some lightheated poems about cats (the best known being Macavity) which inspired the hit musical Cats. His most famous play was Murder in the Cathedral, about the martyrdom of St Thomas A Becket. Click here for a more detailed account of Eliot's life and work. |
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click this link for the text of the poem |
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many poets do, Eliot takes a Bible story and enters into the thoughts of
the characters and tries to suss out what motivates them. In this case it's
the story of the three wise men, found only in the Gospel of St Matthew.
And what attracted Eliot to this story in particular? Possibly it was his own conversion to Anglican Christianity. Like the three wise men he has made his tough journey, found what he was looking for, yet realises that this is not the end of the story. At first Eliot concentrates on the physical discomforts of the journey - "weather sharp", "camels galled", "cities hostile", "villages dirty". Anyone on a faith journey can recognise the symptoms. And the "voices singing in our ears,/Saying this was all folly" - the mockery is familiar! Considering the story it might seem rather tame for the wise man that is the "I" character in the poem to say it was only "satisfactory". Perhaps he was expecting a king in a palace, not a baby in a stable. Those who expect to find God among the rich and famous are often disappointed. The last section of the poem gives an insight into why his reaction is so muted. He saw a birth, but it was like a death too: ""this Birth was/Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death." He has to die to his old ways now that he is a follower of Christ. He goes home but no longer feels at home "With an alien people clutching their gods". You might expect him to be more enthusiastic, but he is tired and dislocated - "I should be glad of another death". This sense of alienation, of being at home but not feeling at home is a common experience for those who have changed their outlook on life - it can be felt for example by missionaries who have spent most of their lives in the developing world and feel out of place when they return to Ireland. It is worth noting also how there are echoes in the poem of other Bible stories - the hard journey might remind us of the journey of Joseph and Mary to get to Bethlehem in the first place; the "dicing for pieces of silver" suggests the reward of Judas for betraying Jesus and the Roman soldiers gambling for Jesus' robe at the cross; the "vine-leaves" and "wine skins" images suggest the wine of the Last Supper and the miracle at the wedding feast of Cana when Jesus turned water into wine; the "temperate valley" of the second section hints at the Garden of Eden; the "voices singing in our ears" could be an ironic counterpoint to the voices of the angels on that first Christmas night. All in all Journey of the Magi is a rich reflective poem, with a special resonance for those who have found their path to Christianity the hard way. |
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Further activities: |
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Click
here
to see Song for Simeon
(not on the Leaving
Cert course), another Elliot poem based on a Bible story, with similar
feelings and ideas, and written around the same time. Click here to read a detailed Christmas Sermon inspired by Journey of the Magi. Click here to see a 15th century painting inspired by the journey of the wise men Assignment: Discuss how Elliot's life story is reflected in Journey of the Magi |